Link for slat shades



April 15, 1947. BALDWlN 2,419,107

LINK FOR SLAT SHADES Filed "Aug. 14, 1945 \NVENTOR H22 RlLfifi A/LDWINBY A TORNEY Patented Apr. 15, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LINK FQRSLAT SHADES Harry Baldwin, Mamaron eck, N. Y. Application August 14,1945, Serial No. 610,763

3 Claims.

This invention relates to links for slat shades that are commonly usedon greenhouses, roofs, porches, and on like places. Such shades areformed of a number of parallel wooden slats that are .hingedly connectedby links at their longitudinal edges so that the shade may be rolled andunrolled.

The links usually employed are metal links formed of wire, the wirebeing twisted at one end of the link so as to form a loop at that end,the axis of. which will be at a right angle to the axis of the loop atthe other end.

The difficulties with that type of link is that the twisted loop at oneend of the link, in the operation of rolling and unrolling the shade,causes a lateral angular deviation of the slats, the total amount ofwhich is substantial, so that it is impossible to 'ro-ll or unroll theshade retaining the slats in proper alignment and position. Consequentlyit is not possible with shades employing that usual type of link, tocompletely cover with the shade the varying areas which the shade isintended to protect. This sidewise creeping action also presentsobjectionable interference with adjacent shades. Further, since links ofthat type do not in the rolling and unrolling operation travel in properalignment, one upon the other, the loops contact and wear upon thewooden slats causing substantial injury thereto which requires theirfrequent replacement.

To overcome these difliculties, I have provided a novel hinge link inwhich the loops are formed with axes at right angles to each otherwithout twisting, which avoids the creeping action referred to andenables the slats to be rolled or unrolled always maintained in properalignment and which protects the slats from any wearing action of thelinks.

A further object of my invention is to provide a link which in additioncompletely encloses transversely the upper and lower horizontal edges ofthe slats and with fastenings supporting both loops.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a link which may becheaply made and easily installed and without requiring any notching ofthe slats, and which may be easily replaced.

The foregoing and other objects of my invention will be apparent fromthe following description of the invention taken in connection with theannexed drawings in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the'link whichalso indicates the hidden portion of the points.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of one side of a slat shade employingmy invention.

Fig. 3 is afragmentary plan view of the other side of the slat shadeshown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view on the line II'II of Fig.2.

The complete slat shade and the details of mounting it upon thegreenhouse and the means for rolling and unrolling the shade are wellknown, form no part ofmy invention and hence are not shown.

Referring to the drawings, Ill designates the slats and T5 the links.The links are made from metal strips in the form of a strap, therespecthe ends of which are generally designated as is "and it,terminating in points 21! set at an angle to the strap which are driveninto the slat for the purpose of securing the link in position. As shownin Fig. l the end [9 is notched so as to-torm two points '20 while thenarrower end [3 is provided with one point 20. The link substantiallytransversely encloses the slat, completelyenclosing the top and bottomhorizontal edges 24 and 25 ofthe slats and protrudes beyond these edges.Thetu'rn of the strap around the lower horizontal edge 25 of the slat [0forms a loop ll, the axis of which is parallel to the plane of the slatit. A loop [6 having its axis at a right angle to the plane of the slatIt is formed at the other end of the link by cutting apertures 2! in theopposed portions of the strap at the turn at that end leaving atransverse strip 22 between the apertures 2i as the shaft about whichloop ll of the adjacent link turns. The width of the strap is reducedfrom the point 23 at the lower horizontal edge 25 of slat [0 to the endI8 of the I strap so as to permit this portion of the link to passthrough the apertures 2| of th adjacent link.

The links it and slats it may be assembled i position in various obviousways. For instance, the links may be opened sufficiently to provideclearance between the points 2!! and the opposite side of the link topermit the slats to be inserted in the links, the links then beingconnected and the slats inserted and the points 2%] then driven into theslats, or the assembly may be accompli shed in other obvious ways.

While the slats may be of any desired dimensions they usually areapproximately one inch wide and one-quarter inch thick. For this type ofslat, I employ a link which is about one and three-eighths inch inoverall length, made of a metal strip about one-quarter inch wide, andthe loops IE5 and i1 have an inside length, measured 3 from the apeX ofthe loop to the horizontal edge of the slat of about three-sixteenthsinch. The design of the said link lends itself to simple and inexpensivemanufacture of links of such small sizes as well as to larger sizes.

Each loop of the link is thus securely fastened to the slat which givesgreater security to maintaining the link in position and avoids the useof thicker and heavier metal which would be required if only one end ofthe linkwas secured and the maintenance of the loop at the other enddepended upon the rigidity of the metal employed.

It is apparent that the links can be separately easily removed andreplaced without disturbing the remainder of the assembly.

With this construction which avoids any twistin of one end of the linkto form a loop the axis of which will be at a right angle to theopposite loop, there is no tendency to sidewise creepingo'f the slatsduring the rolling or unrolling of the shade, and the slats will remainin perfect alignment. As the links remain always in alignment, onerolling upon the other in the rolling' or unrolling of the shade, themetal links never come in contact with the wood slats so as to causeWear'thereon, the Width of the link being sufficient to accommodate anyslight variation in lateral position that might occur.

It is obvious that changes may be made in the embodiment of my inventionhereinabove described without departing from the spirit of the inventionas defined in the appended claims.

.I claim:

1; .A connecting hinge link for slat shades comprising a metal straptransversely enclosing and protruding from the horizontal edges of theslat, having a loop atone end of the link formed by the turn ofthestrap, the axis of said loop being parallel :to the edge of the slat,and having a loop at the other end of the link formed by apertures inthe opposed portions of the strap at the turn thereof separated by anintegral transverse strip at the extreme'end of the link, the axis ofsaid last named loop being at a right angle to the axis of the firstnamed loop.

2. A connecting hinge link for slat shades com- 4 prising a metal strapwhich extends transversely around the slat completely enclosing andspaced from the top and bottom horizontal edges of the slat, the saidspacing of the strap around one of said horizontal edges of the slatproviding a loop having its axis parallel to said edge, and a loop beingformed at the opposite end of the link having its axis at a right angleto the plane of the slat by opposed apertures in the spaced portions ofthe strap separated by an integral transverse portion of the strap, theWidth of the link for that portion thereof which is contained in thefirst named loop being reduced to less than the width of said apertures.

3. A connecting hinge link for slat shades comprising a metal strapwhich extends transversely around the slat completely enclosing andspaced 'fromthe top and bottom horizontal edges of the slat, the saidspacing of the strap around one of said horizontal edges of the slatproviding a loop having its axis parallel to said edge, and a 1009 beingformed at the opposite end of the link having its axis at a right angleto the plane of the slat by opposed apertures in the spaced portions ofthe strap separated by an integral transverse portion of the strap, thewidth of the link for that portion thereof which is contained in thefirst named loop being reduced to less than the width of said apertures,and the ends of the strap terminating on the same side of the slat inpoints at an angle to the plane of the strap which are driven into theslat to secure the link in position.

HARRY BALDWIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,174,539 Bauer Mar. '7, 1916FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 470,613 Fr June 19, 1914

